Obama exerts 'EXECUTIVE PRIVILEGE' re; 'Fast and Furious'. Some of Bush and Cheney tactics put to use, paybacks are hell for the repubs.

House panel holds contempt vote hearing for Attorney General Eric Holder as president exerts executive privilege in gun-tracking probe case.

President Obama asserted executive privilege over documents related to the “Fast and Furious” operation Wednesday as a House panel moved to hold Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr. in contempt after he failed to hand over documents related to a congressional inquiry into the scandal.

In a letter sent to Obama late Tuesday, Holder urged Obama to exert executive privilege, because sharing internal documents with lawmakers could "have significant, damaging consequences."

Tuesday: Attorney General Eric Holder wants a House panel to drop plans to try to hold him in contempt of Congress, and the panel's chairman wants more Justice Department documents regarding Operation Fast and Furious in Arizona.

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Obama ups ante on ‘Fast and Furious’

Chris Cillizza 10:59 AM ET

The President’s decision to invoke executive privilege on the “Fast and Furious” program will further inflame the conservative base,

Sharing the documents “would inhibit candor of such Executive Branch deliberations in the future and significantly impair the Executive Branch’s ability to respond independently and effectively to congressional oversight,” Holder wrote to Obama.

In response, House Oversight and Government Reform Committee Chairman Darrell Issa (R-Calif.) said at the start of Wednesday’s hearing that he learned of Obama’s decision early Wednesday and said the move “falls short of any reason to delay today’s proceedings.”

The attorney general met Tuesday night with leaders of the House oversightcommittee and the Senate Judiciary Committee in hopes of reaching an agreement that would have Justice hand over requested documents in exchange for the House panel dropping its plans to vote on contempt charges Wednesday.

If the House committee cites Holder for criminal contempt, it would open a process that would require House Speaker John A. Boehner (R-Ohio) to schedule a floor vote. If passed by the full House, the matter would then move to the U.S. attorney for the District of Columbia, Ronald C. Machen Jr., who is an employee of the Justice Department.

Holding an Executive Branch official in contempt of Congress is rare, having occurred just four other times in the last three decades.

Issa said he declined Holder’s offer and plans to move forward with a contempt motion.

“If we receive no documents we’ll go forward, if we receive documents we’ll evaluate them and we’ll take some time as is necessary in delay to be sure of the quality of these documents,” Issa told reporters after the 20-minute meeting.

Holder told reporters after the meeting that his offer still stands and that Justice has made available “an unprecedented number of documents.”

“I think the ball’s in their court. They rejected what I thought was an extraordinary offer on our part,” Holder said. “They have — I guess until they decide — they have the ability to change their minds.”

“I expect that it will be a vote on party lines…. And I still believe that this is an effort to try to embarrass the president,” Cummings said.

The faceoff between Holder and the committee has emerged as the leading political sideshow to the carefully-orchestrated plans of House Republican leaders to keep focused on economic concerns in the months before the November elections by holding votes on bills designed to bolster job creation and reduce federal regulatory burdens.

Watch the Conservaposse go wild over this and lets remember that they were completely silent when Bush Cheney did this to cover up what we exposed and the Conservaposse accused us of being 'conspiracy theorists' for wanting investigations of their lies and so on, that took us to war and covered up torture and etc. most of which was covered up by 'executive privilege'

Do you KNOW how many THOUSANDS of documents had already been given to this witch hunt of a process?Nothing has been found and thewy are just becoming DESPERATE because they see that the clock is running out and they have nothing Nada ...Zilch

Now they want more and its running headlong into materials that are sensitive to national and Border Control security